In recent years numerous electronic gaming or game playing devices have been devised for playing gambling games, such as roulette, keno, poker, bingo, lotto and the like. Such electronic gaming apparatus conventionally is constructed in a general slot machine format and can include a number of different variations of these different games. Often such gaming apparatus includes a video game screen that is driven by an image generator coupled to a microprocessor, which acts as a controller. Similarly, reel-type slot machines have been microprocessor implemented so that the rotatable mechanical reels are now simulated by images on video display screens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,787, for example, discloses an electronic game apparatus in which a plurality of players are linked electronically to a master game device and the individual players can concurrently play selected differing games. Thus, each player can select a game to play from a menu including games such as poker, bingo, keno, and blackjack, and all players are all monitored by the master game computer. The games being played, however, are not linked for play together, except that multiple players can elect to play the same bingo game in that the same drawn spaces can be input into multiple machines.
The play of a single game by a multiplicity of users is, however, well known. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,723,377 and 3,534,963 game apparatus are disclosed for the play of a poker game and a bingo game, respectively. Such apparatus is primarily non-electronic, but U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,649 discloses an electronic game apparatus in which there are a plurality of players playing a single game, such as bingo.
It is also known to provide electronic game apparatus in which there are multiple ways of winning a single game. Thus, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,513 players have up to three ways of winning a numbers game. The apparatus can be played by multiple machines connected together so that a plurality of players are able to play the same game.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,567 is typical of game apparatus which has been devised to combine different aspects of different games into a single game. In this case, various aspects of poker and keno have been combined together to create a new game.
It is also well known in casino electronic game apparatus to couple a plurality of gaming devices, such as slot machines or poker machines, together for payment of a progressive jackpot. The jackpot amount is continuously increased, usually in proportion to the number of games played at the various machines which are linked together during the time period in which there has been no jackpot. Such progressive jackpot gaming systems maintain and encourage continued play by the players by increasing the potential payout. There is, however, no strategy involved in connection with such progressive payout gaming apparatus, other than the strategy that continuing to play makes it more likely, with time, that someone will win the progressive jackpot.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gaming apparatus and method in which the results of play of a primary game, such as draw poker or a reel-type slot machine, can be used to enable the play of a secondary game, such as bingo.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic gaming apparatus and method in which two games can be linked together, with the occurrence of events in one game being usable as an input to the other game.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide an electronic gaming apparatus and method having a progressive payout in which a multiplicity of players can simultaneously play independent games and yet also can win the progressive payout by employing game-playing strategies in the play together of a progressive payout game.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a gaming apparatus and method which is easy to operate by unsophisticated users, is adaptable to a number of different game combinations, has a minimum number of components, and is economical to manufacture.
The apparatus and method of the present invention have other objects and features of advantage which will become apparent from, and are set forth in more detail in, the description of the Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention and the accompanying drawing.